3. Pressure major corporations and other societal institutions to join in the celebration of "pride" on threat of boycotts, demonstrations and negative press if they don't. Check.

4. Get in the faces of Christians and demand to know if they agree with the celebration of gay pride and gay marriage. If they don't, demand apologies/ostracization/sensitivity training/firing/whatever.

5. If Christians who don't join the movement cite the Bible as their reason, use this to establish biblical beliefs as "hateful" and "bigoted."

Right now we're in the transition between 4 and 5, and you see it playing out right now in St. Louis. The St. Louis Cardinals are getting ready for an event similar to one many teams in Major League Baseball hold every year, in which present and former players who are Christians share their faith and testimony with fans who attend the event. Gay groups have never protested this event per se, until this year. They are doing so now because the involvement of former Cardinal Lance Berkman gives them an excuse to do so.

The St. Louis Cardinals have drawn ire from several LGBT voices for embracing former player Lance Berkman and allowing him to speak July 30 at Busch Stadium for the team’s “Christian Day.”

Pride Center of St. Louis blasted the Cardinals’ decision in a statement issued to the online LGBT magazine, Outsports, calling Berkman “an individual whose words and actions towards the LGBT (community) are divisive and demeaning.”

Two years ago, Berkman strongly opposed an equal-rights ordinance in Houston that prohibited discrimination based on gender, race, religion, pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity. Berkman specifically took aim at the transgender community by saying as a father of four daughters, he did not want “troubled men to enter women’s bathrooms, showers and locker rooms.” The ordinance ultimately failed.

In response to the backlash, the Cardinals issued a statement to media outlets emphasizing its forthcoming LGBT Pride Night. The organization also said that it has “hosted a Christian Day at the ballpark for nearly three decades. Lance Berkman participated in Christian Day when he was a Cardinals player, and we welcome him back this year to discuss his faith.

“We are an inclusive organization with a social responsibility to be welcoming to all types of people and organizations,” the statement read.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is about Lance Berkman saying outlandishly extreme or hateful things. Berkman simply opposed changing local ordinances and laws to give homosexuals and transgenderites special privileges in matters such as bathroom use. You can disagree with Berkman's position if you want, but it's no crime to take a position on an issue.

Apparently to the gay activists, however, it's a thought crime. If you don't support and endorse everything on their agenda, you must be ostracized, and any organization inclined to associate with you must be pressured not to do so.

This is a trap we've seen used extensively in recent years. We've seen other professional athletes cornered by media who demanded to know if they would accept a gay teammate. If the answer gives any respect at all to biblical teaching on the issue, the athlete comes in for harassment and demands that he apologize. In the matter of the St. Louis "human rights ordinance," it's only natural that Christians will oppose it idea based on biblical teaching. And when they do, they're pounced on as haters.

As a result, the gay activists have made this event all about them, and all about their gayness, when in fact it is not about them or that at all.

The Tigers have a similar event, and have also had it for many years - going back to the 1980s. I attended this year's event with my family, and believe me, no one got up and railed against homosexuals. That's not the point at all. Past and present Tiger players including James McCann, Michael Fulmer, Daniel Norris, Matt Boyd and Ramon Santiago simply shared how they came to Christ and how their faith has made a difference in their lives and in their baseball careers. The Tigers' team chaplain also spoke, and everyone joined in some prayer time and some worship songs.

There's no doubt in my mind that when the Cardinals hold their event, it will be just like this. All Lance Berkman and the rest will do is give glory to Christ and share their personal stories with fans.

But you see what the gay activists have done? If you hold to Christian beliefs, you're a hater. And because you're a hater, Christian events that include you are bigoted and hateful. Which is to say, anything that includes Christians who believe Christian things.

We already went through this last week with Bernie Sanders, who wants to prevent people from serving in government if they believe Jesus is the only way to salvation. Now baseball teams are going to be pressured to drop Christian day events if the participating Christians actually believe what the Bible says.

This is all by design, and has been from the start. People are told that "love is love" (which is true but not all sex is love), and that "happiness is happiness," and that if you object to "who someone loves" then you're a hater and a bigot. No one wants to keep someone else from love and happiness, and no one wants to be called nasty names, so people accept all this and sign on with it. The dwindling number of people who stay committed to what the Bible says are marginalized and ostracized, the purpose of which is to marginalize the Bible itself as a source of wisdom and authority.

I'm still a little sore about the 2006 World Series, but kudos to the Cardinals for not backing down amidst the pressure - and to Lance Berkman for not being afraid of the truth.